John D. Rockefeller
John Rockefeller was the richest man ever to live. He built the oil industry from the ground up. This page shows how he gained his power, and used it. Kerosene Distilled from oil, kerosene was a safe, useable form of fuel used to create light. Before kerosene, only the wealthy had access to oils, such as whale oil that could be used for lamps. As kerosene develops, the common working American man could now have access to a safe stable, reliable light source, banishing darkness from the heart of America for the rest of time. No longer was the day you worked determined by the sun, you could use light given off by a lamp to live by, lamps were brighter than candles, and any other form of previous light. One man with humble beginnings used kerosene to climb his way to the top, one man named John Rockefeller. His Way In John Rockefeller saw Oil's potential early on. He saw the ineffective and inefficient way of using oil and pioneered the use of using kerosene as a fuel source. He built his business on the refinement of oil, not finding oil. He struggled early on, but was given a chance by the most powerful man alive. The Inadvertent Passing of the Torch Yeet sir, yeet indeed. Small time oil company owner John Rockefeller was picked out by Cornelius Vanderbilt to supply and distribute oil to the country. Cornelius Vanderbilt king of the rails wanted to corner the market on who supplied the country with kerosene, as one of the world’s fastest growing products, Vanderbilt chose Rockefeller's small Cleveland refinery near the railroads to ship his oil from. Vanderbilt saw Rockefeller as a near bankrupt business owner who he could manipulate, little did he know that soon Rockefeller would bring the railroad to its knees. Building His Empire Rockefeller promised more than he could provide to Vanderbilt, he owned a small refinery, not capable of supplying the sixty train cars or oil a day that Vanderbilt required. He needed to quickly expand his company with money from investors. The public feared kerosene because many manufacturers skipped safety steps in making their kerosene making a highly volatile fuel. He used his safe reliable form of kerosene to market to investors a baseline quality that the public could trust, a standard the American people could hold their fuel to. A standard that lasted for decades. The Rise of Standard Oil Using money from investors, John D. Rockefeller expanded his power and company using the name of standard oil. Standard Oil kerosene was the most sought after product in the world. Investor after investor poured in to get behind the largest growing company, Rockefeller builds and buys more and more refineries, using his exclusive deal with Vanderbilt to ship his product cheaper than anyone else. Biting the Hand that Feeds You Cornelius Vanderbilt gave Rockefeller his start, but as Standard Oil grew, so did the amount of oil Rockefeller needed to ship. Rockefeller produces more oil that the Commodore could ever ship, he turns to Tom Scott Vanderbilt's top competitor to undercut the Commodore. Tom Scott and his Protégé Andrew Carnegie give Rockefeller a better deal than Vanderbilt could, and Rockefeller ships his oil with Tom Scott. Until he grows too powerful for them. V.s. The Unstoppable Machine As Standard Oil grows, it becomes unstoppable, no other business or company can compete with it. Rockefeller continues to buy out more and more of his competitors absorbing them into his empire. He endeavors to own every refinery in the country. He succeeds in creating the first Monopoly, owning ninety percent of America's oil supply. To Their Knees Vanderbilt and the other Railroads feared that they could be pushed around by Rockefeller too easily, the top two, Vanderbilt and Scott meet and decide to cut all ties with Rockefeller, and make him pay standard rates for the shipment of his oil. Rockefeller sees this as an attack, the beginning of a war. He undercuts the railroads completely. He builds and oil pipeline thousands of miles long that carries his oil where he decides it should go; how vast; and how long. He builds the four thousand mile long pipeline and crushes the railroads. The railroads struggle to stay alive, one third of the thirteen hundred railroads go bankrupt, ushering in a panic, the worst seen by the America and the first great depression. Using the depression to his advantage he buys the struggling oil companies, and absorbs them tightening his grip on the oil market. In 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt dies a broken man. The Last Hurrah of the Railroads Tom Scott tries to fight Rockefeller, the oil pipe does not reach parts of the country like Pittsburgh, and Scott decides to build his own pipe. The Pittsburgh to New York railroad was the principal line used by Scott's Pennsylvania Rail Company, forcing Rockefeller to continue business with them while they undercut him. As a response, Rockefeller shuts down all of his Pittsburgh Refineries, taking away half of Scott's business, leading to layoffs and wage cuts, and eventually revolts destroy much of Tom Scott's company, laying it and ruin. In 1881, Tom Scott dies a broken man leaving his protégé Andrew Carnegie free to pursue his own pursuits and to get revenge on Rockefeller for what he did to Scott. His Last Hurrah With his victory over the railroads complete Rockefeller becomes one of the most powerful men in the country and the richest man in history. At the time of his death worth was equivalent to 340 billion dollars. But before he could amass his fortune, he had to fight Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Westinghouse, and Electricity itself before finally being defeated by Theodore Roosevelt's trust-busting principles in 1911. However Rockefeller left behind a greater America and the money his charities bestow continue to help the people to this day.